


If you were ever in doubt, don't sell yourself short, you might be bulletproof

by cutebutpsyco



Series: Ironstrange Bingo 2019 Fills [19]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: How Do I Tag, Insecure Stephen Strange, IronStrange Bingo 2019, IronStrange Gift Exchange, M/M, Not Beta Read, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 15:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18501601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutebutpsyco/pseuds/cutebutpsyco
Summary: IRONSTRANGE GIFT EXCHANGE || IRONSTRANGE BINGO. FILL: "STOP" ||And Stephen hated that. He hated that he wasn’t able to pretend that everything was fine because the last thing that Tony needed in his life was another reason to be worried. As if the safety of the world and the tendency of Peter to put himself in danger weren’t enough. Not only he wasn’t enough for the man that he loved with all his heart, but he was also the cause of some wrinkles at the side of his eyes.





	If you were ever in doubt, don't sell yourself short, you might be bulletproof

**Author's Note:**

> Today it's gifts day! This one goes to littlecrazyfangirl-98 on tumblr. I'm your Ironstrange Exchange pinch hitter and I'm extremely sorry for the late you are getting this, I hope you'll enjoy it anyway =)
> 
> As always, nothing belong to me, title from "GET UP" by Shinedown and this is un-betad.

Stephen was trying to get it out of his mind, but he knew that the knowledge that those words were true would have hunted him for so long. He had seen a lot of pictures of him and Tony side by side and he couldn’t help but think that the billionaire could do so much better. 

He still couldn’t understand why the man was still with him. Maybe he just wanted to know the secrets from Kamar-Taj and the Sanctum of New York and that was the reason why he asked Stephen out for the first time, but now, ten months into their relationship, he couldn’t really understand. And he was more than everything starting to believe that the man was blind.

On the screen, the host of the talk show was speaking with a woman that Stephen would have sworn he had never seen before of how their relationship couldn’t work because she started modelling and the Sorcerer’s appearances weren’t good publicity for her. That said a lot of the woman, but the only thing Stephen could think about was her words. 

There were true, all of them. He had never been the kind of man who had all the girls at his feet, the few stories he had in the past were with people who were able to go behind his appearances and the only one who ever told him that she fell for his body and his brain at the same time had been Christine. For Stephen, that was fine, until he started to date the one Tony Stark.

The man who had daily meetings with the most beautiful women and men in the world before and after becoming Iron Man. The man who had been nominated sexiest man alive twice. A man who was definitely able to make anyone question their own sexuality simply breathing in their vague direction. Stephen had no idea about how a man like Tony could be even in the slightest interested in him, who looked like an alien, was too high and too lean and who had useless hands. That was how he came up with the idea that Stark must be needing something from him. He just wasn’t smart enough to understand what, yet. 

“Strange,” A voice came from the foyer, and Stephen brought himself back from his how thoughts hearing Wong calling him. “Stark is here.”

Stephen shook his head, running a hand in his hair and trying to rip away the woman’s words from his mind, even if he knew that they had already grown roots in the middle of his brain. He tried not to think about it and painting a smile on his lips, but he knew it was off even before he saw Tony’s own smile tightened and worrying starting to creep through his whiskey brown eyes. 

“Babe, are you ok?” Stark asked, walking toward him and placing a soft kiss against Stephen’s lips. The man had to force himself not to push the other back. He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t simply looking at the other man and not thinking about yet another title about them. It wasn’t the first time and Tony already sued whoever wrote the first ones. But he couldn’t shut up the truth. Stephen nodded, knowing that his lie was clearly visible in his eyes. “Hey, you know you can’t lie to me, do you?”

And Stephen hated that. He hated that he wasn’t able to pretend that everything was fine because the last thing that Tony needed in his life was another reason to be worried. As if the safety of the world and the tendency of Peter to put himself in danger weren’t enough. Not only he wasn’t enough for the man that he loved with all his heart, but he was also the cause of some wrinkles at the side of his eyes. 

“I’m not lying,” Stephen said, doing exactly that. And he thought he was over. Every time that the voices shut up for a while, he knew he would have been stronger, the next time. But it wasn’t. And maybe that said a lot about how much Stephen loved Tony because he was the only person for whom he’d take so much into consideration others’ opinions. “I’m just tired.”

“I saw you tired, Stephen,” Tony answered, his callous hand reaching for Stephen useless one and using his fingertip to trace one of the numerous scars that maimed his pale skin. “That’s not your tired face. So, stop the bullshit and tell me what’s wrong, now!”

Stephen couldn’t bear himself to look into Tony’s eyes, so he let his glance drifting away until he was looking at the wooden wall at the billionaire’s back. He couldn’t understand why Tony was still with him, but he knew that the man deserved better. He deserved someone who could make him look even more perfect than he already was, not someone who was broken. Stephen was a person to hide in the shadows, and he was happy of it. He couldn’t understand why it was so important for Tony for the tabloid to shut up, just like he didn’t understand why the man still hadn’t opened his eyes. 

The silence that followed was, apparently, enough of an answer because Tony’s face morphed into an angry expression of which Strange wasn’t the receiving side. They had that conversation too many times. “Stephen, what did they say, this time?”

“The usual stuff, I shouldn’t get bothered by those anymore,” He said, and the point was that he knew it, but he had always been a proud man and couldn’t simply let it go. “But every time they say it, I don’t even know. They are right, Tony, you could do so much better!”

“I think I looked in every exiting dimensions and still there wasn’t a person better than you, not for me, at least,” Tony answered, and Stephen wanted so madly believe that his words were true and he wasn’t trying to make him feel better. Even if he knew that it was a vain hope. Tony’s hand hadn’t left him, though, and now was holding it more firmly. “I don’t care what they say, I love you. You are the most beautiful human being I’ve ever met. Inside and outside.”

It was a whisper, but for Stephen was like he had screamed it. It was the first time Tony ever said that he loved him, and Stephen, despite everything, couldn’t help a small smile to form on his lips. “I love you too.”

Maybe that changed nothing, Stephen was sure that it didn’t, but, for the first time in a long time, the Sorcerer dared to think that Tony was with him just because he wanted to, and not because he was expecting for something in return. 

He was fine with that, he thought. And maybe he wasn’t even so ugly, he considered the moment Tony showed him the pictures from the book he paid for. It was just the two of them doing things, sappy, domestic and pictures while they were with the other Avengers or superheroing. He wasn’t a model, but there was a light, in his eyes, when he looked at Tony, that let him see what the other man saw in his boyfriend.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are the air I breathe and the reason why I write, so make ur girl happy.
> 
> **wanna say 'hi'? do you have a prompt for me?** find me on [tumblr](https://ironstrange-is-the-endgame.tumblr.com/).  
> find my entire ironstrange bingo card on [dreamwidth](https://myrcellabaratheon.dreamwidth.org/3827.html) and [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/posts/511160).


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